Languages — a window to the world

Jana Brinton is a guitar-strumming music-degree holder with a penchant for French lyrics.

And French food, French art and, well, France.

Brinton teaches the language and culture most of the day at Bingham High School. She also teaches Spanish and English. In the summer, she takes students to Europe where, along with her favorite country, they tour nations including Holland, Great Britain and Germany.

"They leave with such a narrow image of the world and come back with a broad, vast understanding of a broader world outside of South Jordan, Utah," Brinton said.

For her dedication, the 20-year teaching veteran has been named the Utah Foreign Language Association's Foreign Language Teacher of the Year. She received a plaque and $200.

"I've seen teachers who spoke absolutely fluently . . . (but) who terrified students," said Joan Patterson, former state foreign language specialist who now coordinates teacher licensing at the State Office of Education. "Brinton is one of those teachers . . . who have set up a learning environment that was so risk-free that students just started speaking the language and weren't afraid to be corrected by the teacher."

Indeed, Brinton is a hit with students, some of whom cite her as the most inspirational teacher on Deseret News/KSL-TV Sterling Scholar applications.

"Foreign language can be a very difficult subject to learn, but as it is, Mrs. Brinton has made the experience not only enjoyable but rewarding also," writes Bingham senior Kiri Redford.

Students write funny stories incorporating new vocabulary words. They learn popular French songs and sing along while Brinton strums guitar.

"She varies her techniques in order to teach every student in the way that they most easily learn," Redford wrote.

Students nationwide apparently seek similar experiences in increasing numbers. In 1982, 46 percent of high school graduates nationwide reported never taking a foreign language class, the National Center for Education statistics reports. By 2000, the number had shrunk to 17 percent.

Utah numbers, however, are different. While Utah has more foreign language speakers than any other state — many are former missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — foreign language enrollments have waxed and waned, Patterson said.

In 1980, 16 percent of Utah secondary students took Spanish, French, German or another foreign language, State Office of Education data show.

Enrollments spiked to 35.7 percent in the 1985-86 school year, when the University of Utah first required two years of a foreign language for admission. They hit an all-time high in 1994, with 38 percent of Utah secondary students taking classes, most commonly Spanish.